City doesn't crack 'Top 100 Best Places to Live'

As a blogger to the CNNMoney.com Web site from Scottsdale, Ariz., opined: "Thank goodness. My favorites didn't make your list."

Another blogger from Sandy, Utah, commented: "It's the 'kiss of death' to make it to this list. My hometown was No. 1 a couple of years back - and everyone noticed - and moved there. Housing prices and taxes have skyrocketed since. I can't afford to move back. You don't want to be on this list, trust me."

Amarillo must be a secret, at least to Money's editors.

Texas did have 10 cities make the Top 100, while Oklahoma had three and New Mexico two.

(For the record, top-ranked Fort Collins, Colo., is the place to be.)

However, the numbers used in the rankings don't tell the whole story.

Amarillo's median family income ($45,896) was below the best place's average ($76,893), and Amarillo's sales tax (8.25 percent) was above the average of 6.55 percent. Amarillo even had higher insurance premiums, $2,490 to $2,207.

The difference in these numbers can be attributed - to a degree - to population. Amarillo's listed population of 179,479 was below many of the larger cities included in the rankings.

Amarillo fared much better in things that have nothing to do with population, such as air quality index (Amarillo was 25 percent above the average).

Other than a lack of ski resorts, Amarillo was comparable with other cities, per capita, as far as the number of cultural amenities such as libraries, museums, theaters and public golf courses.

Nothing against Naperville, Ill., or Boise, Idaho, (which ranked in the top eight), but we'd put Amarillo up against them any day of the week.